


Chasing the Sun

by karrenia_rune



Category: Eureka, Stargate Universe
Genre: Challenge Response, Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-27
Updated: 2014-06-27
Packaged: 2018-02-06 09:21:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1852819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karrenia_rune/pseuds/karrenia_rune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He’s on an alien ship, god knows how far away from home, but at least there’s a snarky scientist. It feels like home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chasing the Sun

Disclaimer: Eureka and Stargate Universe belong to their respective creators/owners/producers. They are not mine. 

"Chasing the Sun" by Karrenia

Sometimes he wonders, if Kim or rather the version that had returned from her the gods’ only knew how long sojourn in outer space, had ever felt the way he did just now. Thinking of Kim naturally brought his thoughts around to Henry Deacon, which only made the gut-cramping sensation of home-sickness even worse.  
Jack Carter had only regained consciousness aboard this gigantic marvel of alien architecture and technology about a five days ago, and while he had more or less managed to wrap his head around the fact that he was indeed light-years from Earth and home and everyone he had ever known, Sherriff Jack Carter, was nothing if not adaptable.

He stared out of the cavernous view-port ignoring the hub-bub of activity that swirled all around him, he didn’t really know that much about the mission of Destiny just yet, but he was a quick learner and determined. Aside from the practically of gathering such information; he had to admit that he was just plain curious.  
From the questions he’d been asking and the answers he’d gotten from the crew, a mingled bunch of both civilian and military personnel, even that was a bit like venturing into deep and murky territory.

After he’d been cleared by the ship’s doctor, one Lieutenant Theresa James. when she'd given him a clean bill of health she had authorized a limited security clearance. 

Taking advantage of it Jack had been allowed some chance to get a better look of the ship, and it simply took his breath away. Just now, even with the shifting vista of the black and silver tapestry of the space-field moving just outside of the massive view-screen, Jack felt that somehow he might be missing an essential point. 

It was like a mysterious shape covered by an inky black cloth; he could feel the heft and weight of it, he could feel its texture with his fingertips, all he had to do was reach out and whisk the shielding cloth away in order to reveal the mystery, but even so, that wasn’t the point, was it?”

Sometimes he really admitted that he missed his days in Eureka and Global Dynamics.

“Move, Sir,” an acerbic voice sounded quite near his left side, “You are in the way.” 

“Uh, sure,” Jack replied. “No problem.

The owner of the voice came into his field of vision dressed in civvies that had obviously seen better days and although he had never met the man in person prior to this, he had his name mentioned by other members of the crew; and the name badge he wore pinned to his shirt lapel was a big clue as well.

“Dr. Rush, I presume,” remarked casually, inviting the other man to open up should he have a mind to.  
Jack had to admit that while the general overall ship-board consensus came to the fact that Dr. Nicholas Rush was not uniformly liked, he was respected for his intelligence, his resourcefulness and his adaptability.

He also had learned in talking with the others that the volatile contentious between Rush and Colonel Everett Young was pronounced and hard to miss. 

Jack might be stuck in a situation where he was now light years from his home, his friends, and family; but mulling over it was not going to get him anywhere. He had to move forward, and maybe just maybe by getting to know Rush, might help defuse just a little bit of the undercurrents of tension and discord that were currently running through the ship like water through the pipes, or the recycled air through the vents. 

In the back of his mind, Jack, thought, 'in a way, he kind of reminds of Nathan Stark, and everyone knows how long it took the two of us to come around to something resembling a mutual respect for one another. I just hope one of us does not have to die for that to happen here.’ Although, hey there’s a snarky scientist on board, it could also be just like home.’

Jack also considered himself something of a good judge of character, in fact, sensing the tight set of the man shoulder’s, the set of his jaw, suddenly Jack realized that here was an opportunity that he could not allow to slip away. “Jack Carter, nice to meet you, Dr. Rush. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“For your information, Mr. Carter, I don’t pay the least bit of attention to rumors, and neither should you,” replied Rush.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that, at least the one good thing about rumors is that they keep things interesting,” replied Jack. “But you’re right, actually, if you’re free, I would like to get to you know better, how about a coffee?”

“If you knew me at all, you would know that I am very anti-social, in fact, if Young has his way, I’m sort of the social pariah.”

“He’s not that bad,” chimed in Eli Wallace, pausing to catch his breath for a moment as he caught the tail-end of their conversation. “If you take him in small doses.”

“There you have it, Mr. Carter, from Eli Wallace’s mouth to God’s Ear,” this time Rush’s tone was much less bitter than it had been only moments ago. “Allow me to complete this routine diagnostic and I shall take you up on that coffee after all.”  
**  
In the mess hall Jack sat across the table from Rush, sipping his coffee, and wondering if he’d been spoiled by all of the numerous perfectly blended and distinct flavors that he’d drunk at Eureka’s Carpe Diem café, because somehow this coffee, well, it was an act of genuine charity to dub by the term coffee, but it was drinkable, that was the most that he could say for it.

For his part, Rush, sipped at his and without any wince of distaste at its bitter flavor or its taste.

“So, we’re here, what did you wish to discuss with me?”

“Oh, mainly I just wondered if you could tell me what the selection criteria was when they went about selecting crew for the mission, where the ship came from, that sort of thing.

“As for your first question, I can’t tell you that, because it’s classified,” remarked Rush, as for the second, the origin of the ship is something, of a mystery. Rush set down his half-full mug of coffee and tipped his head to one side as if thinking something through, or searching through his own mind for a muddled but very important memory that continued to slip in and out of his mental fingers.

At last Rush replied, “I wish I knew. Every day, every minute I feel like I am getting closer and closer to the answer, but the more I try the more it eludes me. Did you know that in order to refuel in order to have enough power to jump into hyper-space the Destiny must sling-shot through the corona of a sun?

“No, but it makes a certain kind of sense,” Jack replied. “It’s kinda like chasing the sun, in a way.”

“I can empathize. If you must know, I still can’t for the life of me figure out the how and why of my arrival aboard, and it’s driving me crazy.”

“I suppose that is a natural response, under the circumstances.”

“You know, back home, I’d have any number of scientists telling me that should something like this happen, depending on who I’d ask, each and every one of them would have a different theory, and no one theory would ever agree with another. God, I miss my home!”

“Where did you come from, Mr. Carter? Rush asked.

“Call me Carter, or Jack, but not Mr. Carter, because every time I hear that, I’m forced to turn around and look for my old man,” Jack said.

“Very well, allow me to rephrase, where did you come from, Carter?”

“Eureka, a small town in the north western United States, on Earth,” Jack answered.

“Never heard of it,” Rush replied, wondering why he was taking so much time out of his valuable research to indulge this odd but affable new passenger, but he had to admit, if only to himself, that the more time that he spent with him, the more he was interested in learning about him, so he stayed without any of his typically acerbic brusque cutting remarks as he departed a room or cut off a conversation. 

“It’s ah, difficult to explain, mostly because as you mentioned earlier, sometimes even when you’re not officially part of a project, you still have to kept, it ah, confidential.”

“You were part of a government project?”

“Yes and now. In a way you could say that the entire town was part of a government project,” replied Jack.

“I would like to learn more, Carter,” Rush remarked, but, he bent his head to study the readout on his wrist-watch. “I really must go, I have a lot of work that will not get done if left unattended for much longer. “Perhaps another time?”

“I’d like that, “Jack said and realized even as the glib words came out of his mouth that he meant every word. It was a start, a good start, but as Rush had said himself there was so much more work to be done. It was good to have something productive to do, and while the Destiny was nowhere close to be Eureka or home, at least, he was starting to learn and that was an excellent first step.


End file.
